In this file photo, taken on March 29, 2020, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen speaking during a news conference on the COVID-19 situation in Canada from his residence in Ottawa, Canada. (By AFP)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned US President Donald Trump that his decision to stop a US manufacturing company from sending respirators to Canada could prompt retaliatory measures.

The Trump administration ordered US firm 3M, a Minnesota-based manufacturer of protective healthcare equipment, to stop exporting protective masks to Canada and Latin America on Thursday.

In response, Trudeau protested by saying that medical supplies moved “both ways across the border,” noting that thousands of Canadian nurses from Windsor traveled directly across to Detroit, Michigan, every day.

Trudeau warned that blocking the flow of supplies and the movement of medics would be a mistake.

“These are things that Americans rely on and it would be a mistake to create blockages or reduce the amount of back and forth trade of essential goods and services, including medical goods, across our border,” he said.

Trump said he had used legislation dating back to the US-Korea War-era to force the US medical supplies company 3M to sell its equipment to the US government.

Earlier, Berlin’s top security official said Washington was using “wild west methods” to divert and obtain a delivery of face masks originally destined for the German capital.

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